I will deal briefly with the salient points of the report. It deals with the Commission's general assessment of the present situation in the milk sector. This is a matter of the utmost importance for this country. There have been a number of attempts in recent years to correct the imbalance in the milk sector of the Community market. The Commission's communication with which this report deals sets out the current thinking of the Commission on the problem. The Commission have not yet put forward proposals for legislation but we see their communication as foreshadowing the proposals that they may put forward as part of the 1979-80 price package.
In the draft report the Sub-Committee set out the situation in the milk sector as revealed by the Commission's analysis. Production is increasing at an annual rate of 1.7 per cent while consumption at the same time remains static. A number of measures have already been taken to deal with this situation and these measures are referred to in the report. Also in the report is a summary of the kind of measures which the Commission are contemplating and there is an indication of the Community's thinking on the cut-back on production. The report also sets out the special position of the dairy industry in this country and argues that this special position requires that Ireland be given special treatment in any restrictive measures being adopted. The productivity of Irish dairy farmers still lags considerably behind that of their counterparts elsewhere in the Community. An objective of the Treaty of Rome is to increase agricultural productivity; therefore it is only equitable that there be no cut-back as far as this country is concerned until such time as productivity here approaches the standard obtaining on the Continent at present. Therefore, responsibility for the present situation cannot be laid at Ireland's door. We are responsible for only a minute percentage of the Community's milk production and it cannot be said that we have been relying excessively on intervention.
The report, however, does not seek to ignore the problem from the Community's standpoint but it makes the point that the principle of Community preference should be fully recognised. The report states that we are opposed to New Zealand, for example, having access to the British market for cheddar cheese under any GATT arrangement. We are also insisting that there be a cutback in New Zealand exports of butter to the United Kingdom after 1980. We ask that there be a levy on imports of feeding stuffs. Much of the present problem is caused largely by the broiler chicken type of production which goes on in small Continental farms which have access to the cheap imported feeding stuffs.
We are in favour of measures to increase consumption and to divert more milk products into the food aid programme. Because of the desire to see Irish production expand we are suspicious of the proposal to provide income aids for small farmers forced out of milk production. Likewise we are totally opposed to any prohibition of investment being applied to this country. The Chairman, as a member of the Agricultural Sub-Committee, will know that we dealt very exhaustively with all aspects of the milk sector and we had a wide-ranging and full discussion on it. We had various interested farming organisations and representatives from other areas and from the Department of Agriculture at that meeting. In passing, I would like to thank the organisations and the other interested bodies who assisted us in the preparation of this report. I recommend the adoption of this report to the Committee.
